Published 4 June 2018 SP Paper 338 2nd report (Session 5) Public Petitions Committee Comataidh nan Athchuingean Poblach PE1603: Ensuring greater scrutiny, guidance and consultation on armed forces visits to schools in Scotland Published in Scotland by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. All documents are available on the Scottish For information on the Scottish Parliament contact Parliament website at: Public Information on: http://www.parliament.scot/abouttheparliament/ Telephone: 0131 348 5000 91279.aspx Textphone: 0800 092 7100 Email: [email protected] © Parliamentary copyright. Scottish Parliament Corporate Body The Scottish Parliament's copyright policy can be found on the website — www.parliament.scot Public Petitions Committee PE1603: Ensuring greater scrutiny, guidance and consultation on armed forces visits to schools in Scotland, 2nd report (Session 5) Contents Introduction ____________________________________________________________1 Guidance on armed forces visits to schools _________________________________3 Recruitment or raising awareness __________________________________________5 A balance of views______________________________________________________6 Careers information _____________________________________________________9 Conclusions and recommendations________________________________________10 Collection of data on armed forces visits to schools _________________________12 Arranging visits to schools _______________________________________________12 Data about armed forces visits ___________________________________________14 Conclusions and recommendations________________________________________16 Consultation on participation in armed forces visits to schools ________________18 Current practice _______________________________________________________18 Ability to consent ______________________________________________________19 Conclusions and recommendations________________________________________19 Annexe A: Extracts from Minutes and links to oral evidence ___________________21 Annexe B: Written evidence submitted to the Committee _____________________24 Bibliography___________________________________________________________26 Public Petitions Committee PE1603: Ensuring greater scrutiny, guidance and consultation on armed forces visits to schools in Scotland, 2nd report (Session 5) Public Petitions Committee The remit of the Public Petitions Committee is to consider and report on - whether a public petition is admissible; and what action is to be taken upon the petition. http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/ petitions-committee.aspx [email protected] 0131 348 5254 Public Petitions Committee PE1603: Ensuring greater scrutiny, guidance and consultation on armed forces visits to schools in Scotland, 2nd report (Session 5) Committee Membership Convener Deputy Convener Johann Lamont Angus MacDonald Scottish Labour Scottish National Party Rachael Hamilton Rona Mackay Scottish Conservative Scottish National Party and Unionist Party Brian Whittle Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party Public Petitions Committee PE1603: Ensuring greater scrutiny, guidance and consultation on armed forces visits to schools in Scotland, 2nd report (Session 5) Introduction 1. PE1603 calls for greater guidance, scrutiny and consultation in relation to visits made to schools in Scotland by the armed forces. The petition, by Quakers in Scotland and ForcesWatch, was lodged in March 2016 and received 1,027 signatures in support of the action it calls for, as well as 52 comments. 2. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to take three actions in relation to armed forces visits to schools: 1. Guidance is provided on how visits to schools by the armed forces should be conducted so that information presented to children takes account of the unique nature of armed forces careers, ensures political balance, and offers a realistic representation of the role of the armed forces and what a career in the armed forces involves. 2. Information is collected to enable public monitoring of the number and location of visits, the purpose and content of visits, and comparison with the number of visits by other employers. 3. Parents/guardians are consulted as to whether they are happy for their child to take part in armed forces activities at school. 3. The petition explains that these actions are called for to address a number of areas of concerns that the petitioners have about armed forces visits to schools in Scotland. These are: • the level and distribution of armed forces visits to schools in Scotland • the types of activity provided in the course of visits and whether they constitute careers awareness or recruitment • concern that school students participating in the visits do not encounter a balance of views on the armed forces • that there is insufficient consultation with parents/guardians in advance of visits taking place • that there is a lack of transparent data about armed forces visits to schools. 4. The Public Petitions Committee's consideration of the petition has captured a range of views on the actions called for in the petition. In addition to these actions, some of the evidence received by the Committee has commented on the question of whether people under the age of 18 should be able to join the armed forces at all. Many of these submissions referred to the Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in respect of the age of recruitment into the armed forces. Included among these recommendations were calls to raise the minimum age for recruitment to 18 years of age. As the age of recruitment is not the subject matter of the petition and is also within the responsibility of the UK Government, the Committee does not make any recommendations in this regard. 1 Public Petitions Committee PE1603: Ensuring greater scrutiny, guidance and consultation on armed forces visits to schools in Scotland, 2nd report (Session 5) 5. The Committee does, however, note that the Scottish Government's report (March 2016) on the implementation of the UNCRC in Scotland: Whilst defence policy is reserved to the UK Government, the wellbeing of children is not. As such we would want to be assured that any recruitment of children to the UK military takes full cognisance of all aspects of their wellbeing. We have therefore requested from the UK Government further detail on the Army Board's proposal to increase the number of personnel recruited prior to their 18th birthday, including with regards to recruitment from Scotland, and reassurance from the UK Government that it has no intention to change current policy which seeks to prevent the involvement in hostilities of UK Service personnel under the age of 18. 2 Public Petitions Committee PE1603: Ensuring greater scrutiny, guidance and consultation on armed forces visits to schools in Scotland, 2nd report (Session 5) Guidance on armed forces visits to schools 6. The petition calls for guidance to address armed forces visits to schools on the basis that careers in the armed forces carry with them a set of unique challenges, both in terms of the roles that some members of the armed forces may be required to carry out, the ethical circumstances that may be involved in those roles and the legal obligations, such as duration of service, to which armed forces personnel may be subject. Other potential issues in respect of armed forces careers have also been highlighted in submissions received by the Committee from organisations such as Medact (a charity for health professionals). 7. Dundee City Council explained why, in its view, the guidance called for in the petition is not necessary: It is important that that the armed forces, along with all career areas, including those careers where there may be philosophical, or moral dimensions have access to schools, so pupils are properly informed about career choices that exist. Pupils require this information. If the view that the armed forces require separate guidelines for school interaction then this logically would require an extension to other areas as well. It is our view that this additional guidance is not required. 1 8. East Ayrshire Council commented that: We note the comment about political balance; it has not been our experience that there is political imbalance in presentations by the armed forces. In our experience, members of the armed forces explain the political environment in which they operate in and do not promote any specific political ideology. 2 9. South Lanarkshire Council's response confirmed: …that the decision to invite members of the armed forces to visit schools is delegated to Head Teachers on the basis that the purpose of the visit is to let young people know about their role and potential career pathways and/or through activities on leadership and team building. No direct recruitment is undertaken in schools. This takes account of the unique nature of armed forces careers and provides an opportunity to discuss career and leadership skills with young people. 3 10. North Lanarkshire Council, however, indicated its support for the recommendations in the petition and stated that their current practice is in line with the proposals. The submission stated: 3 Public Petitions Committee PE1603: Ensuring greater scrutiny, guidance and consultation on armed forces visits to schools in Scotland, 2nd report (Session 5) For many years our schools have provided opportunities to young people to engage with employers through